SUKKUR, July 1: If stone pitching of 40-kilometer long Kandhkot-Kashmore (KK) dyke is not completed before July 10, it can cause a major devastation in case of monsoon rains or floods hit the area.
If case of any such eventuality, not only Kandhkot town but over 100 adjoining villages will be destroyed and rice crop standing over two thousands acres will also be washed away.
This was observed by a team of journalists which visited the KK dyke on Friday. A large number of people also gathered on the occasion who maintained that the dyke faced a difficult situation during last year’s flood but it was the nature which came to its rescue, because pressure had developed at Tori bund which ultimately ripped it apart.
They said that today a scenario that existed in 2010 was prevailing and could go a little more because water nowadays was flowing at a faster speed toward KK embankments, which was now hardly at a distance of 300-feet.
The gushing water waves are eroding embankments from its basis.
Most of the residents, who had braved a number of similar scenarios in the past, said that stone-pitching of KK dyke must be at a height of 60 feet from the river level, otherwise, the situation could become very dangerous in case of floods. They suggested that to be on safe side, at least 5,000 truck loads of stone was required for safety of the dyke.
Similarly, efforts may be made to spread the stone stock to a height of 60 feet to pre-empt danger of erosion by floodwater.
According to them, Sindh chief minister had suspended Chief Engineer Guddu Barrage Zahoor-Ul-Hasnain and XEN Amjad Jatoi and the irrigation personnel were ordered by him to complete stone pitching work by June 30 which had eventually expired.
Emergency has been imposed on all the dykes of the area from July 1. They told newsmen that, XEN Jatoi had dug 14-foot high embankmentand reduced the soil by seven feet and the soil was used for constructing four kilometre-long wall, which they viewed would be washed away by the gushing water.
Media persons themselves saw that the work had been done with inferior quality of broken bricks with ratio of 1-16, and this was done deliberately with a mindset of corruption. According to people, billions of rupees, besides precious time, had been spent on raising this wall.
They said that maximum threat to KK dyke was likely to cause from 18th kilometer to 26th kilometre which they termed as ‘very sensitive’. If the work was not carried out in this particular point on an emergency basis, then Kandhkot, Badani, Bakhshapur and Ghouspur towns may face the consequences.
However, the area from 7 to 10 and 20 to 40 kilometer was described by them ‘within the range of medium threat’.
They also told newsmen that no consultant of the department had ever come here and the team also saw that no engineer or contractor was present even today and only ordinary workers were doing labour to raise the wall.
When some media persons push the wall at a point some of its bricks got displaced which showed absence of strength and sustainability.
Area people told newsmen that one trolley of cement was brought here a week ago but none of the cement bags on it was consumed.
The contractor for the dyke, representing influential people of the area, was so confident that he did not bother to visit the site. Media people also noticed absence of machinery on the site and, according to area people, only three trucks with stones was unloaded last night.
The area residents of Kandhkot believed that if a breach occurred in KK dyke, it will wash away PPL Gas field of Kandhkot, Shell Petroleum Depot, Guddu Thermal Power Station and a huge number of rice godowns.
The reason, they gave, was that Kandhkot city was 40-foot below the level of Indus while Kashmore stood below 30 feet. According to them, river had changed its course in its own way.
This correspondent repeatedly tried to approach federal minister Mir Hazar Khan Bijarani and provincial irrigation minister Jam Saifullah Dharejo through their cell phones but could not succeed.